As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems include servers that are connected to multiple client devices across a network by access layer switches. Each of the client devices may itself be an information handling system configured as a host computer. The network may be partitioned by the access layer switches and distribution layer switches to form different virtual local area networks (VLANs) that each include different groupings of client devices within an end user network environment.
A conventional workflow for deploying a workload or server profile on a physical server requires appropriate provisioning of the access layer network switches to enable network connectivity from a given server to the particular network environment. This conventionally requires a complex external orchestration tool (such as Dell “Active Systems Manager” tool available from Dell Products L.P. of Round Rock, Tex.) running on a controller that is external and separate from the server chassis that is aware of all connectivities between compute and switching components. Such an external orchestration also requires a correct configuration sequence that is controlled externally to the server chassis to correctly configure the compute and access layer switches for up-link connectivity to the distribution layer of the end user network, and requires external determination of port connectivity between the server and each access layer switch by typically using hard-coded mapping tables that are not maintainable. In other words, intrinsic knowledge of how the compute is connected to the access layer is conventionally required (e.g., the wiring between the blades and access layer switch modules is based on hard-coded knowledge of how the conventional server is configured for different permutations of slot location, slot type, NIC type, fabric and fabric switch) that is not maintainable. Appropriate VLAN provisioning on the server-facing switch port is also typically required, as well as appropriate down-link connectivity from the access layer switch over each server-facing switch port.